Row crops such as corn are very carefully planted in precise rows that are spaced apart a specific distance. This enables the utilization of a multi-row cultivator. Such a cultivator has digging teeth that dig through the soil between the rows to remove nutrient robbing weeds. It will be understood that such a cultivator must be carefully controlled. If the cultivator is allowed to stray from side to side it will dig up and destroy the crop. Thus the usual cultivator is designed to be mounted for direct control by the tractor rather than through a single point hitch arrangement as is typical for other farm implements.
Whereas the cultivator teeth need to be confined against side to side movement, it will be understood that, as the cultivator passes over swells and valleys in the ground, the teeth also need to extend and withdraw to maintain an appropriate depth of penetration. Also, in the event that a tooth engages a large rock, some provision needs to be made to allow that tooth to retract.
Heretofore, the above needs have been satisfied in prior row cultivators by a complicated arrangement of components. A mounting bar is fixed to the tractor and independent teethcarrying sections are fixed along the bar. The sections are mounted in such a way that during the cultivating process, pivitol movement is allowed around an axis perpendicular to the direction of the rows, but side movement is prevented. As the cultivator travels over the different swells and valleys, the independent sections float up and down accordingly.
The prior row cultivators referred to above have several disadvantages. The independent sections are generally too light in weight to maintain the necessary downward pressure to keep the teeth buried the desired depth in the ground. Thus some kind of loading means is desired. Commonly the operator will simply fix weights, for example rocks, onto the sections to achieve the desired loading. Also, with the numerous sections all having independent pivoting means, there is undesirable care and maintenence required. Still further, the total weight creates added burden and consequently added cost for tractor maintenence. Finally and by no means less important, the complex mechanism of the multiple components makes the row cultivator of the prior device expensive to produce and thus expensive to purchase.